A new Washington Post/ABC News poll reveals that the only recent fifth-year president to have a lower approval rating than President Obama was Richard Nixon. Forty-three percent of Americans approve of Obama, compared to 55 percent who don't. Even George W. Bush had a 47 percent approval rating at this point in his presidency. Nixon's approval rating was 29 percent, due to the Watergate scandal.

While this is not good news for Obama, it's probably worse news for House Democrats hoping to keep and gain seats in 2014. As Scott Clement and Dan Balz at the Post point out, "parties that control the White House suffer — sometimes significantly — in midterm campaigns when the president’s approval rating is below 50 percent."

And unfortunately for Obama, Americans now think Republicans could handle the economy marginally better than him. Forty-five percent approve of Republicans' work on the economy compared to Obama's 41 percent. This shift is due to "women, liberals, and younger Americans" who have become less supportive of the president.

Of course, the White House says Obama's poised for a comeback. Now that Healthcare.gov is working better, the administration hopes Obamacare will stop hurting Obama's poll numbers.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.